"As the health care debate enters this critical period, listeners should be aware that I have in recent years given paid speeches or paid advice to doctor groups, hospitals, pharmaceutical firms and insurance companies, as well as to low income advocacy groups promoting universal coverage. In all of these contexts I have offered the same views of public policy that can be found in my books, columns, articles and commentary on Left Right &Center."
-- Matt Miller
Provocative, up-to-the-minute, alive and witty, KCRW's weekly confrontation over politics, policy and popular culture proves those with impeccable credentials needn't lack personality. This weekly "love-hate relationship of the air" features four of the most insightful news analysts anywhere.
Photo from L-R: Matt Miller, Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley, Robert Scheer
Photo credit: Marc Goldstein
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What does it mean to the left if the healthcare reform bill passes the House this weekend? (Bob likens the bill to losing his virginity.) And what is this "deeming" procedure anyway? Is it worth risking a Constitutional challenge? A little bit about financial reform and what is a principled position – plus the contention that liberals will always pass a Democratic bill, no matter what. (Lawrence O'Donnell sits in for Matt Miller.)
Obama postpones his Asia trip for the final push on healthcare. Also, a shocking report on Lehman Bros financial manipulations. Will it hasten financial regulation reform? Plus, representing terrorists and the controversy raised by Liz Cheney. Finally, did The Hurt Locker deserve the Oscar for Best Picture?
No matter what, we will have a healthcare bill – whether three-quarters of Americans like it or not. The question is: vote it in and fix it later or discard it altogether? The "jobs" bill – is it a phony? The cuts to education in California are draconian and causing widespread demonstrations. Also, will Obama flip-flop on the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial?
Did President Obama's healthcare summit achieve anything? Is Goldman Sachs bringing down the world's economy? Is it Wall Street gone wild or just the progress of capitalism? And is the US trouncing on Toyota because it owns GM? How did Mr. Toyoda do on Capitol Hill?
It's hard to avoid the Tiger Woods apology. So we won't. About paying to help the housing crisis: Is Obama's $1.4 billion offer too little, too late? Will the Fed push up interest rates, and is that going to spell disaster for the economy? What will inflation do to it? Unemployment is disproportionately hitting the middle class and poor, barely touching those with six-figure salaries. Taking the temperature of the conservative GOP: To judge from their conference in Austin, they're quite cheery, yelling, "Run, Dick, Run" to Dick Cheney and stomping on floor mats with Keith Olbermann's face with glee… Plus a lighting round on healthcare reform's future.
With all four of the panelists in KCRW's studio together for the first time ever, it's a lively show about the direction that President Obama has been heading and should be heading in the future. It's Main Street versus Wall Street, and the anger and frustration over how little government's doing for the little guy. Is the Tea Party really a movement? How seriously are they being taken? If Sarah Palin is the answer, what's the question?
You can listen AND watch this week's show, just click the "listen" and "watch" buttons.
The jobs report is mixed, the stock market's reeling and the global economy is in a tumble over Greek debts! We opine on the Obama budget and agree that no one thinks the economy or the markets are doing anyone any good right now. Meanwhile China has begun to flex its muscle, complaining about Obama's decision to meet the Dalai Lama and provide military support to Taiwan. And finally, all those apologies! (Arianna Huffington is away.)
We review the speech, the messages, the challenges, the throw-downs and the smack-downs. Then, is bipartisanship dead?
Emotions swing at the current state of political affairs. Are we in a permanent state of voter revolt? And is there any way to save or salvage the healthcare reforms that are on the table? With the Supreme Court declaring free speech equals free spending for all, has the course of American Democracy been changed forever?
This week's tragic earthquake in Haiti allows us to consider whether this as much a story about poverty and failed governance as it is of natural disasters. Does it allow us a chance to show human compassion and empathy? Also, will bankers ever learn the evils of their ways? Is the Banking Commission a kangaroo court? Is it true that the only thing wrong with capitalism is capitalists? Are we witnessing socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor? The worship of free markets or a complete betrayal? Plus, will the Massachusetts special election make the difference between a healthcare plan or dissolution of that dream?
Bad news on the employment front. Can the Obama administration survive the negative numbers, on the jobs front and his own job approval ratings? If banks aren't lending, what's a citizen to do? Should the US response to terrorism be military or better police work? Also, Dodd and Dorgan won't run again. Are the Dem's doomed or balanced out by the number of GOP dropouts? Plus, should Geithner resign?
Was the Obama presidency the biggest story or the year or was it the economy? Will America lose its place as the global economic leader? A deep think show that looks at the year that was. (Arianna Huffington is away.)
Is healthcare doomed? Democrats are revolting. As the left positions itself to fight for public option, will the healthcare-reform baby go down with the bathwater? Can there be a healthcare do-over? Is Copenhagen going into overtime, can there ever be agreement on how to address climate change when half the planet doesn’t think global warming is real? And what about the fat cat bankers that Obama scolded? (Arianna Huffington is away.)
LRC weighs in on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Also, Goldman Sachs says its top 30 or 40 execs won't be getting bonuses this year. Is it just PR and another accounting trick? On healthcare, the Senate keeps throwing spaghetti against the wall. Will anything stick? And Blackwater and CIA in bed together -- who's surprised?
President Obama made his long-awaited decision to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan by 30,000. Is it Obama’s undoing? Also, the latest unemployment figures – what, only 11,000 jobs lost? We’re doing less-worse than ever. But are we doing better? On another note, are Tiger Woods' affairs his business or is he being held to an unfairly high standard? And what about those gate crashers at the White House?
Arianna Huffington (independent progressive) is the editor of the Webby Award-wining online newpaper, Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of twelve books, most recently Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe.
Tony Blankley (Right), who served as press secretary to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, is a syndicated columnist and former editorial page editor of the Washington Times. He is Executive Vice President of Edelman Public Relations in Washington, DC and a visiting senior fellow in national security communications at the Heritage Foundation. He is also the author, most recently, of American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century, published by Regnery.
Matt Miller (center/moderator) is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; a weekly columnist for the the Washington Post's online edition; and an award-winning contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine and many other publications. A former aide in the Clinton White House, Miller's first book, The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems In Ways Liberals And Conservatives Can Love, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. His new book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, was just released in paperback.
Robert Scheer (Left) is Editor of the Webby Award-winning political website TruthDig.com. He was a national correspondent and columnist for 19 years at the Los Angeles Times where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Currently a columnist represented by Creators Syndicate, Scheer is a clinical professor in communications at the University of Southern California. He has authored eight books most recently most recently The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America. His new book, The Great American Stickup: Greedy Bankers and the Politicians Who Love Them, will be published by Nation books in the spring.
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